Photobombing

Taking it easier

Planning a trip like this is half the fun and gets me fired up about where we are headed. My original planning this time produced a multi page spreadsheet (maybe 15 pages?) and although distances seem short on paper, the reality is quite different. Plus we have found that lunches and any conversation with a local cannot be expected to be short.

The final blow to the spreadsheet agenda was laughter and multiple statements of "oh, my" by Cornelia. She said, first, it was not achievable and, second, it would not be enjoyable. Relax. She got us to eliminate a few things and adjust our expectations. I'm good with that. 

First, an item of interest from the cemetery we visited. Many of the graves had these globes, filled with flowers and water. They kind of looked like bubbles across the cemetery.

Moving on down the road, we would suddenly find something of interest, like this tomb from around 2000 B.C. It was later used as an altar by Catholic priests during the time when it was illegal to conduct a mass. They would hold mass out in a field like this.

We then headed southwest to the most southwestern tip of Ireland, where one finds the Mizen Head signal station, some incredible ocean views, and, in our case, some pelting rain. This is the walkway to the station. What you can't see is how high above the rocks and water we are. My photos won't/can't show that.

Apparently, there was some reonvation going on at the signal site. King John perhaps?

And out in the middle of that bridge, a lock. ?

Back to Crookhaven for lunch. Ourr directions were to drive into town to the pier and to the end, where we found O'Sullivan's pub. I had my first Irish coffee and Vicki and Cody found a new cider. Ireland is enjoying a craft cider revival, much like the States are enjoying a craft beer surge. 

Again, just driving along, we spy a sign for the Kilheangul Burial Ground. We don't pass these by, especially with Vicki on the hunt for her royal ancestors. This old celtic cross stood out, especially in contrast to the new marble behind it.

We had heard that we might encounter farm animals as we drove and sure enough, on a road already too narrow, we encounter cows that would nonchalantly wander out in front of you. I snapped this with the iPhone as we finally got this one to move over.

The main drag of Kenmare, our location for the next 2 nights.

Kenmare has a very old stone circle in town, but on the way there, we encountered this one in the middle of a road. I don't think it is nearly as old as the othe one, and unless there is a lot of rock attached to these underground, it wasn't nearly as hard to build. 

And then there was this at the edge of the stone circle area. All kinds of gods were worshipped; why not Santa as well?

This morning, we went down for our breakfast at our B&B. Cody had ordered the Irish porridge - but requested a fried egg on it. Our host had never heard of savory oatmeals and this threw her for a loop. But it was good, and it may be that Cody just started a food trend in Kenmare!

Driving

I hear that the scenery that we passed today was lovely. Here's what I saw:

These babies just moseyed on in front of us. They were in no hurry, so neither were we. 

We were sad to leave the beautiful home of our host, Cornelia O'Keeffe. Here she is, along with some photos of her B&B:

Cornelia O'Keeffe, a real make-lemonade kind of person. She's very zen and very cool. If you end up in the southwest part of Ireland, stay at the Rock Hill B&B in Schull.

Cornelia papered several bedroom doors with the spines and covers of book jackets. So cool!

This is the view from the john in our bedroom. IT'S THE VIEW FROM THE JOHN. Unbelieveable.

Dan posted photos of the old Schull church and graveyard, along with some other beautiful shots that were taken this morning. 

We traveled from Schull to Mizen Head, which was incredible. Again, look for Dan's post, which will cover the photography. However, I will share with you a photo of the steps that we took as part (part) of the journey back from the most southwest point of Ireland:

We then drove to Crookhaven for lunch and afterward tried to find our way along the coast to Three Castle Head, but without GPS, a detailed map, and/or directional signs, we were screwed. However, we did see very narrow roads, some of which had precipitous cliffs. At times, I felt like someone was going to have to pry my hands from the wheel, once we finally arrived somewhere. Here's a shot of the road from Dan's side of the car. Please note that this is a two-lane road, sometime traversed by RVs, full-sized trucks, and buses. 

We are spending two nights in Kenmare, where there is a stone circle as well as a place called Cromwell Bridge. While some people think that the bridge is named after Thomas Cromwell, who deeded this area to the town's founder, it's more likely that the name is a misunderstanding of the Celtic word for 1) mustache or 2) arch. 

The most exciting find if the day, at least for me, came in the form of an email. I've spent a little time tracing my ancestry,  and I received information today about the O'Keefes. My 2nd great grandmother was an O'Keefe, and it was her parents who emigrated to the U.S. during the potato famine of the 19th century. According to the information that I received,11 of the first 25 kings of Munster were O'Keefes. And all O'Keefes are all descended from that line. Cody and I were sure to remind Dan several times today that he was in the presence of royalty. We also kept the "O" part of O'Keefe, which meant that we "didn't take the soup" during the famine. Apparently, at that time, the English were trying to anglicize the Irish, and one way to do that (in addition to not allowing them to practice Catholicism) was to allow them to take food from the soup kitchens if, and only if, they would drop the "O" from their names. So O'Sullivans became Sullivans, O'Regans became Regans, etc. I see where the stubborn streak, so evident in my mother and my children, came from. (It skipped a generation.)